What if Robin Hood was a woman? The Know knows

Alice Flanders, managing director of the Know Theatre of Cincinnati, makes her mainstage directorial debut at the theater with Adam Szymkowicz’s “Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood.” The production, the opens the company’s 20th season, runs July 28-Aug. 19.(Photo: Provided/Mikki Schaffner)

When Know Theatre of Cincinnati announced its 2017-2018 season, there were plenty of familiar names that were part of it. There were playwrights the company had produced before. There was a new edition of its popular “Serials” series. Even the list of directors had names we knew; producing director Andrew Hungerford, associate artistic director Tamara Winters, guest director Holly L. Derr. But there were a couple of new names, too, names that stuck out, particularly the one who had been selected to direct the opening show – Alice Flanders.

Now, if you’re one of those people who scans theater programs to see who’s working behind the scenes, you may have come across Flanders.

For nearly five years, Flanders was the resident stage manager at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. It’s a grueling job that demands being hyper-organized and knowledgeable about all things relating to the production. If you’re moderately charming, it helps, as well.

Back in 2006, when Flanders was still a student at Walnut Hills High School, local actor/director Chris Guthrie asked if she would like to be the ASM – assistant stage manager – for a holiday show at the Know Theatre. She’d been involved in some summer programs at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. She was ready to get more involved.

“Yes, absolutely,” Flanders recalls her quick reply. She pauses a moment. Then, with the expert timing of a comic, she adds “What’s an ASM?”

The scion of a family of actors, playwrights and technical directors, Flanders had been attending and occasionally acting in plays since she was in preschool. But this was different.

“I fell in love with being in charge of people,” she laughs. “I’ve always been very bossy.”

It’s a quick and clever line. Classic Flanders. But perhaps “bossy” is a little strong. No one who works with her thinks of her that way. Or they won’t admit to it, at least. Two years ago, when she announced that she would be leaving the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, ensemble members were distraught.

Adam Szymkowicz’s “Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood” opens the Know Theatre of Cincinnati’s 20th season, running July 28-Aug. 1. From left, the cast includes Ernaisja Curry as Much, Maggie Lou Rader as Marian and Candice Handy as Will Scarlett.(Photo: Provided/Mikki Schaffner)

Composer James Allen recently described her as the “incomparable, incandescent, indisputably iconic Alice Flanders.” She’d asked him about adapting a handful of “feminist pop music anthems” into “Medieval-sounding lute ditties” for “Marian.”

Maybe Allen was engaging in a bit of hyperbole. But it shows the sort of enthusiasm Flanders generates with those who work for her.

Last season, Flanders moved a few blocks from her CincyShakes home to become the Know’s managing director. She brought with her loads of theater know-how and an enviable network of connections. But directing chops? Especially with regard to a full-length show? Nope. And yet here she is, at the age of 27, being given the responsibility of kicking off the Know’s 20th anniversary season.

“I have complete faith in Alice,” says Hungerford, who has known her since she was a teenage Know Theatre volunteer. “She has always been one of the most competent people to have around. You could give her anything to do and, even if she had no idea how to accomplish it, she wouldn’t complain about it or try to hand it off to someone else. She would just figure it out and do it.”

Besides, nurturing up-and-coming artists is a Know specialty. And “Marian” seemed the perfect sort of show for Flanders.

“This play is highly relevant to Alice’s interests,” says Hungerford. “It has a decidedly feminist take on a historical story that we all know. But Adam’s script flips everything that we think we know about it.”

Maggie Rader stars in the title role of Adam Szymkowicz’s “Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood."(Photo: Provided/Mikki Schaffner)

Szymkowicz’s script poses an interesting question. What if Maid Marian and Robin Hood were the same person? In other words, what if Robin Hood was actually a woman? What if, instead of being a band of Merry Men, most of Robin Hood’s followers were female instead of male?

Funny, right? But Szymkowicz isn’t willing to let it go at that.

“They don’t want to reveal themselves as female to the rest of the group,” says Flanders, “because of what being male offers them. The idea of gender and gender roles is allowed to be discussed on the stage without being overly heavy.”

She likens it to “Girlfriend,” the Todd Almond play that opened the Know’s 2016 season. It is a love story about two men. The fact that they are the same sex is almost incidental. It’s about the complications of being in love rather than a heavy-handed treatise on gender equality.

“This play is an awesome combination of lightness and humor,” says Flanders. “Robin Hood is always having fun. The audience expects that when they hear the name Robin Hood. But there are moments of danger, too. And of revelation.”

It is a challenge, she admits. She has a cast of 10. And then there is the unspoken responsibility of launching the season.

“I will tell you what,” says Brian Isaac Phillips, producing artistic director of Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. “I have been impressed with Alice for many years. Seeing her go through our education program, working with her as a dresser and finally as a stage manager – she has always been so confident in what she was doing. She thinks through problems in logical, non-emotional ways. She’s thoughtful as a collaborator. She’s the person you want around when the boat is on fire and it’s sinking and you’re out of life rafts because that’s what live theater is sometimes. She’s amazing.”

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